Man Utd Thread:

[Helix.]

Job done. Just about. Hopefully kick on next season and strengthen few weak links. If you'd have said United would finished 3rd at Christmas would have laughed. 

[MayoBuck]

3rd place is a good outcome even though it's miles behind the top 2. Winning the Europa league would be nice now.

[Cunny Funt]

So there you have it, Man United are the 3rd team in the league. A fine achievement when you consider where they were after 25 games and going 14 league games unbeaten greatly helped.



The win today hard earned and deserved. A few dodgy moments in defence though defended well outside of that and Lindelof probably Uniteds best player today.  With champions league football secured it should be interesting to see how serious the Europa league will be taken.

[Helix.]

3rd place is a good outcome even though it's miles behind the top 2. Winning the Europa league would be nice now.

Absolutely. Hopefully champions league will draw in bigger transfers and getting transfer signings done early. And of course offloading a few goes without saying.

[Joeythelips]

The old saying that the league table never lies is very true, United and Chelsea were 3rd & 4th best teams but there is still a large gulf between them and the top 2. Liverpool are a pretty settled squad so will take stopping again but they can definitely get closer to Man City. Their recruitment has not been the best last couple of years and the 3 main players behind their success imo were Kompany, Silva & Aguero.

Its very hard to replace players of that quality (as we have seen since Kompany left and Jesus performances up front).  United need to a top centre back and need to sort out the keeper situation but there is no doubt they have improved greatly since the arrival of Fernandes. The last 2 transfer windows they have shown good recruitment, another 2 good transfer windows are needed realistically but they are on the right path finally.

[Bord na Mona man]

The impact of Fernandes ranks with Cantona in terms of a mid-season boost. Once Pogba disappeared in September for several months, United were stuffed. There was no creative midfield force and they were quite easy to stifle by ordinary teams. Had Fernandes joined last summer, Utd would still have finished 3rd, but probably a dozen points better off.
Whether Fernandes maintains his impact is another matter. Teams will figure him out better and he may find the English season attritional.

I also suspect that when Lukuku and Sanchez were offloaded without a replacement striker coming, Ole had been given assurances that he was being given time to rebuild and wasn't under immediate pressure to deliver. Right now there are very few blue chip managers in world football who are big enough to take over the job, so it's likely Ole will be allowed continue bringing through youth players and pursuing the same transfer strategy.

[Maroon Manc]

Well done Ole, looked a lost cause in January but with 32 points from the last 14 games and only 7 goals conceded United have really improved. United and especially Maguire continues to get hammered for their defensive frailties but its a stat that can't be ignored, collectively they've really improved as group and its been all individual errors when United have conceded.

United have taken 23 points from 30 against the top 6 this season which is an excellent return, Ole unlike Lampard very rarely gets any praise in the media for his tactics but he's shown himself to be very shrewd on a number of occasions this season. It was clear pre Fernandes and with Pogba out injured that United didn't have the quality to break teams down which is now not the case.

I'd imagine Ole wants 18-19 players he can trust including 2 keepers before this United squad are capable of going to the next level, he probably has around 15 at the moment so its unlikely United bridge that gap in the transfer market in the next few months.

[GetOverTheBar]

Well done Ole, looked a lost cause in January but with 32 points from the last 14 games and only 7 goals conceded United have really improved. United and especially Maguire continues to get hammered for their defensive frailties but its a stat that can't be ignored, collectively they've really improved as group and its been all individual errors when United have conceded.

United have taken 23 points from 30 against the top 6 this season which is an excellent return, Ole unlike Lampard very rarely gets any praise in the media for his tactics but he's shown himself to be very shrewd on a number of occasions this season. It was clear pre Fernandes and with Pogba out injured that United didn't have the quality to break teams down which is now not the case.

I'd imagine Ole wants 18-19 players he can trust including 2 keepers before this United squad are capable of going to the next level, he probably has around 15 at the moment so its unlikely United bridge that gap in the transfer market in the next few months.

Lampard couldn't spend a penny and lost probably the best player in the league. They are not even comparable situations.

[Maroon Manc]

Well done Ole, looked a lost cause in January but with 32 points from the last 14 games and only 7 goals conceded United have really improved. United and especially Maguire continues to get hammered for their defensive frailties but its a stat that can't be ignored, collectively they've really improved as group and its been all individual errors when United have conceded.

United have taken 23 points from 30 against the top 6 this season which is an excellent return, Ole unlike Lampard very rarely gets any praise in the media for his tactics but he's shown himself to be very shrewd on a number of occasions this season. It was clear pre Fernandes and with Pogba out injured that United didn't have the quality to break teams down which is now not the case.

I'd imagine Ole wants 18-19 players he can trust including 2 keepers before this United squad are capable of going to the next level, he probably has around 15 at the moment so its unlikely United bridge that gap in the transfer market in the next few months.

Lampard couldn't spend a penny and lost probably the best player in the league. They are not even comparable situations.

Chelsea's squad is a lot stronger than United, Pulisic was a new signing and is one of the top young players in the world ans Abraham, Mount and James who will all likely go onto to play for England came back from loan so thats 4 new players were added to his squad. There's an agenda in the media with Lampard, he's untouchable. Chelsea have been steady all seasons, there's been no dramatic improvement towards the end of the season. Andreas Pereira has played 39 times for United this season, not even sure he's a premier league player and then there's James who's played 44 times. These are 2 players who wouldn't got near a Chelsea matchday squad this season.

[gallsman]

Nonsense, Lampard gets mocked plenty by the media.

Be interesting to see how much United chase the Europa League. Fernandes looks absolutely knackered and Maguire is simply dying to either give away a calamitous goal or concede a penalty at the minute.

[GetOverTheBar]

Well done Ole, looked a lost cause in January but with 32 points from the last 14 games and only 7 goals conceded United have really improved. United and especially Maguire continues to get hammered for their defensive frailties but its a stat that can't be ignored, collectively they've really improved as group and its been all individual errors when United have conceded.

United have taken 23 points from 30 against the top 6 this season which is an excellent return, Ole unlike Lampard very rarely gets any praise in the media for his tactics but he's shown himself to be very shrewd on a number of occasions this season. It was clear pre Fernandes and with Pogba out injured that United didn't have the quality to break teams down which is now not the case.

I'd imagine Ole wants 18-19 players he can trust including 2 keepers before this United squad are capable of going to the next level, he probably has around 15 at the moment so its unlikely United bridge that gap in the transfer market in the next few months.

Lampard couldn't spend a penny and lost probably the best player in the league. They are not even comparable situations.

Chelsea's squad is a lot stronger than United, Pulisic was a new signing and is one of the top young players in the world ans Abraham, Mount and James who will all likely go onto to play for England came back from loan so thats 4 new players were added to his squad. There's an agenda in the media with Lampard, he's untouchable. Chelsea have been steady all seasons, there's been no dramatic improvement towards the end of the season. Andreas Pereira has played 39 times for United this season, not even sure he's a premier league player and then there's James who's played 44 times. These are 2 players who wouldn't got near a Chelsea matchday squad this season.

They had 3 or 4 players they played regular this year that never even played in the Premier League before this season. Including a starting striker and attacking midfielder, James came on the scene slightly later and Tomori I'm not exactly sure what happened him after a decent enough start. We have since seen that Abraham is still not fit for a whole EPL season, Giroud had to finish the job.

Hazard is irreplaceable, whatever about Pulisic, he was and still is a gamble - he just looks like long term he will pay off. He was also injured plenty this season.....and Kante their only world class player has hardly kicked a ball.

Lampard is English, he's very intelligent, he's at Chelsea and the only English manager at a "top 6 club". Of course there will be an agenda but whereas Solskjear has been a manager for a decade (yes...I know). Lampard is still very obviously learning and learning at the biggest basketcase in football at that.

[magpie seanie]

Some excellent summations here. On the point being argued - I think it's undeniable Lampard gets a favourable ride from the press and supporters alike as opposed to Ole. Some really horrible and unfair stuff has been written and said about Ole which hasn't been the case for Lampard. Similar enough for Maguire. First United ever present in terms of starting all league games since Pallister in 94/95. He may not be the best centre back in the world but I'd say you'd struggle to name 10 that are 100% undeniably better. With a good partner and a keeper that doesn't give goals away that will be an excellent defense. I think in the run since the last league defeat, United have conceded 11 goals and DeGea has been directly responsible for 6 of those. Pogba's inexplicable handball accounts for another.

Overall after a tough season 3rd is reasonable. I think United have to treat the Europa as a warm up for next season....they can't go after it to win it. It would be nice to win a trophy but the players need to rest and prepare properly for the new season. They've played more minutes in the last 6-7 weeks than they normally would in a period of that length.

[Boycey]

Ole is managing United, Lampard and even Arteta who is getting smoke blown up his arse recently are managing Chelsea/Arsenal respectively the expectations/hype is different. I wouldn't want it any other way.

[NAG1]

Ole is managing United, Lampard and even Arteta who is getting smoke blown up his arse recently are managing Chelsea/Arsenal respectively the expectations/hype is different. I wouldn't want it any other way.

It will be interesting to see the recruitment over the summer.

Will tell a lot about Ole and his strategy for the future. Think a CB is essential and prob some more midfield quality, going to be a busy season so will probably need a few to come in and bolster the squad. I'd imagine be more than one or two shown the door too.

[GetOverTheBar]

Ole is managing United, Lampard and even Arteta who is getting smoke blown up his arse recently are managing Chelsea/Arsenal respectively the expectations/hype is different. I wouldn't want it any other way.

That is not true. Chelsea is the one job in England that you get the road on failure. Sometimes you even get it when you do rightly.